Synthetic peptides from Plasmodium falciparum apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA-1) specifically interacting with human hepatocytes

Plasmodium falciparum apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA-1) is expressed during both the sporozoite and merozoite stage of the parasite's life cycle. The role placed by AMA-1 during sporozoite invasion of hepatocytes has not been made sufficiently clear to date. Identifying the sequences involved in binding to hepatocytes is an important step towards understanding the structural basis for sporozoite-hepatocyte interaction. Binding assays between P. falciparum AMA-1 peptides and HepG2 cell were performed in this study to identify possible AMA-1 functional regions. Four AMA-1 high activity binding peptides (HABPs) bound specifically to hepatocytes: 4310 (⁷⁴QHAYPIDHEGAEPAPQEQNL⁹³), 4316 (¹⁹⁴TLDEMRHFYKDNKYVKNLDE²¹³), 4321 (²⁹⁴VVDNWEKVCPRKNLQNAKFGY³¹³) and 4332 (⁵¹⁴AEVTSNNEVVVKEEYKDEYA⁵³³). Their binding to these cells became saturable and resistant to treatment with neuraminidase. Most of these peptides were located in AMA-1 domains I and III, these being target regions for protective antibody responses. These peptides interacted with 36 and 58 kDa proteins on the erythrocyte surface. Some of the peptides were found in exposed regions of the AMA-1 protein, thereby facilitating their interaction with host cells. It is thus probable that AMA-1 regions defined by the four peptides mentioned above are involved in sporozoite-hepatocyte interaction.